The purpose of this study was to explore the role and significance that ethnic churches have in the lives of Korean immigrant women in Canada. Particular attention was paid to the ethnic church as a potential leisure site, and the benefits associated with church participation, such as social interaction, social capital development, adaptation to living in Canada, and resistance to constraining ideologies. At the same time, possible negative outcomes of church association were also addressed, as appropriate, such as lack of integration into the broader Canadian society and reproduction of traditional gender ideologies. Purposeful intensity sampling method was used to find Korean immigrant women who could provide information-rich stories for this exploratory in-depth study. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted one-to-one with a semi-structured format. Seven women were interviewed. These women were all first-generation married Korean immigrants who had lived in Canada for over one year. Initially the first participants were recruited through advertisements handed out to various churches in an urban/suburban region of south-west Ontario. Snowball sampling also took place as an alternative method for finding more information-rich cases. The analysis of this study resulted in the following themes: The first theme was the benefits gained from ethnic church attendance. These included exchange of information, emotional support and reinforcement of ethnic identity. Second, conflicts, divisions and challenges deriving from church attendance were explored. Negative aspects such as challenges between traditional and new values, lack of interaction with mainstream Canadian society, and reinforcement of gender inequality were evident. Finally, despite the difficulties that derived from being a member of the Korean ethnic church, the community provided help in adjusting in the new life for the women. The Korean ethnic community acted as an extension of family while helping newcomers through a variety of services in adjusting to life in Canada. The findings of this study do show that the Korean ethnic church is an important site for leisure for women. Although church attendance does not seem to specifically facilitate integration or resistance to the Canadian society, it did help them to re-create a smaller community that helped the women deal with their daily lives. As a result they often felt no need to step out into the larger society: thus creating ‘little Koreas’ within Canada.

The mention of the term “summer camp” often brings to mind cabins nestled in the woods, cool lakes, warm campfires and children having fun as they swim, paddle and play. At traditional residential camps children are imagined to revel in their freedom, overcome challenges, make long lasting friendships and develop into skilled and competent young people. How much of this imagery, however, is based upon a societal discourse constructed by adult values? How often do the actual experiences match these ideals? This study explores the issue of adult driven discourses surrounding the experience of camp by comparing the perspective of camp directors with the description of one of the author’s own childhood experiences. Using narrative techniques, the author composed two distinct descriptions of the camp experience including programmatic, social and emotional elements. The comparison of these two narratives revealed the possibility for distinct differences between the adult perception of the experience and how it may actually be experienced by a child. The areas of difference centred around both social and programming elements of camp participation which, when considered together, suggest the need for children to adjust to a distinctly different social setting in order to achieve the positive experiences reflected in our cultural conceptualization of summer camp.

Research exploring identity in the dementia context reveals that some aspects of personal and social identity persist in dementia while others evolve as persons living with dementia find ways to live with the changes in their lives. Leisure can be a space for developing and expressing identity and a space to resist stereotypical images and social expectations. Leisure may also play an important role in providing meaningful activity and engagement in life. Nonetheless, the meaning and experience of leisure in the context of dementia have received very little attention in the literature. Guided by the personhood movement, this phenomenological study aims to understand the subjective experience of dementia and the meaning and experience of leisure in the lives of persons living with early stage dementia. It explores leisure’s role in identity maintenance and/or development and leisure as a space for slowing down the process of dementia and resisting stigma associated with dementia and identity loss that could occur in dementia. Four persons living with early stage memory loss were recruited through local agencies to participate in this study. Each participant engaged in four conversational interviews following McCracken’s (1988) long interview format. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were also collected through participant observation. The participants and I engaged in at least one of their favourite leisure activities together. Detailed field notes were recorded following each participant observation session. Using the method of photovoice, participants were given disposable cameras and asked to take photos of objects, places, and subjects that were meaningful for their leisure. These photos were discussed in Interview 2. Data were analysed in a manner consistent with phenomenology. Findings revealed that the participants experienced their journeys of memory loss within a paradox of challenge and hope. Participants juxtaposed the negative aspects of living with memory loss with the positive aspects of their lives. Essences of the experience include struggling with change, in which participants experience a wide variety of challenges as a result of being diagnosed with memory loss, including muddled thinking, fluctuating abilities, draining energy, frightening awareness, and disquieting emotions. However, participants counter these changes with the variety of ways in which they tackle life with dementia, including reconciling life as it is, battling through the changes by being proactive, living through relationships, being optimistic, and prolonging engagement in meaningful activity. Participants also experience threatening assaults on identities. Identity is threatened in terms of disappearing roles, losing independence, struggling with demeaning images and expectations, and losing confidence. However, participants juxtapose these threatening assaults by upholding identities. They do this by emphasizing abilities through leisure, changing perspectives, and engaging in life through leisure. This study deepens our current understandings of the subjective experience of dementia and leisure’s role within that experience. It helps us to understand the experience of leisure within the context of memory loss in terms of four lifeworld existentials: lived time, lived space, lived body, and lived other. The findings also contribute to our understandings of how persons living with dementia use leisure to resist a master status of dementia. Participants in this study used leisure as a space for resisting both the stigma of memory loss and the progression of memory loss. They overcome challenges in their leisure to demonstrate to themselves and others that they have many remaining abilities and are able to maintain valued aspects of their identities. The findings suggest that service providers, family members, and persons living with dementia should carefully consider the meaning of leisure and find ways to facilitate involvement in leisure that is meaningful for persons living with memory loss. In terms of future research, leisure in the context of relationships, including the importance of advocacy work for persons with dementia, should be examined. Although this study provides insight into the possibilities of alternative methods for understanding the experience of memory loss, further exploration is needed in this area.

While meanings of leisure have been widely studied from Western perspectives, to date, few researchers have explored the meanings of leisure in non-Western cultural contexts. However, in an era of globalization, it is particularly significant to explore leisure experiences of people from non-Western cultures. This study is then designed to investigate the role leisure plays in a Chinese culture context. Specifically, Chinese university students’ leisure experience and the values they ascribe to leisure in relation to their lives as a whole is examined. Their ideology of work and its impact on leisure participation is addressed in particular. In a Chinese university, criterion sampling method was first applied to recruit Chinese students who could provide information-rich stories about their leisure participation. Snowball sampling method was also used to find more information-rich cases for this exploratory study. 11 participants were engaged in this study. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted to discover leisure experience of these students. Data analysis was guided by a constructivist grounded theory approach to understand the participants’ perceptions and meanings of their leisure experience. The data analysis resulted in three major themes. The first theme “Valuations of Work” addressed that the students placed high valuation on work and their life was ruled by work. The second theme “Two Spheres of Leisure” illustrated the students’ ideology of leisure and its impact on their leisure experience. The last theme “Causes for the Subordinate Role of Leisure”revealed two underlying causes that shaped the subservient role of leisure in the students’ daily lives. The emerged themes reflected that the students’ lives were centered around work; and they gave little consideration to their leisure participation. Holding such work-leisure ideology, the students’ leisure participation cannot always contribute to their well being. Therefore, this study advocates the implementation of leisure education in China, which may facilitate the Chinese people to build a balanced and healthy life style.

Leisure typically has been regarded as a positive component in people's lives, and evidence points to its central rather than peripheral role in lifestyle. Further, studies of leisure suggest it is conducive to psychological well-being, to physical health, and to the stability of social groups. The extent to which people are able to reach this potential very much depends on leisure's role in lifestyle, the experience of leisure, and whether conditions in a consumption-oriented society facilitate such positive outcomes. For many, leisure in consumption-oriented lifestyles holds symbolic meaning. Important aspects of personal identity and meaning are found in leisure-related possessions and through leisure activities pursued. For others, leisure represents an internal, inner-directed process through which activities or behaviours are intrinsically motivated, freely chosen, and ultimately satisfying. In this study, lifestyle was conceptualized and operationalized using a 'voluntary simplicity' value orientation, focussing on four main value dimensions: (1) material simplicity, (2) self-determination, (3) ecological awareness, and (4) personal growth. The purpose of the study was to examine the role that lifestyle plays in the relationship between leisure and psychological well-being. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by adults enrolled in general interest and continuing education leisure courses. Five basic concepts were assessed in the questionnaire: (1) leisure participation, (2) importance of leisure activity to lifestyle, (3) leisure experience, (4) psychological well-being, and (5) lifestyle. The highest frequencies of leisure participation per month included reading books, magazines and newspapers, listening to music, and watching television and videos. Leisure experience was characterized by higher challenge and awareness, and lower boredom and anxiety. There was general support for voluntary simplicity values in lifestyle with personal growth, self-determination, and ecological awareness dimensions being higher and material simplicity values being the lowest. Lifestyles that more strongly embraced voluntary simplicity were associated with higher levels of challenge and awareness, and lower levels of anxiety and boredom in the experience of leisure. The self-determination, ecological awareness, and personal growth dimensions of a voluntary simplicity lifestyle contributed to heightened positive affect within psychological well-being, while lower levels of material simplicity increased negative affect (decreased psychological well-being). When all factors are taken together, a significant proportion of variance in psychological well-being is explained by the <I><b>experience</b></I> of leisure, especially <I><b>high challenge</b></I>, and <b><I>not</b></I> by <I><b>leisure participation</b></I>, and by a <I><b>voluntary simplicity lifestyle</b></I> characterized by self-determination, ecological awareness and personal growth values in the <I><b>positive affect</b></I> dimension, and material simplicity values in the <I><b>negative affect</b></I> dimension of psychological well-being. These results suggest that regardless of the type and intensity of leisure involvement, if through heightened awareness, higher challenge and lower anxiety are sought in leisure, especially as expressed within a voluntary simplicity lifestyle, then higher levels of psychological well-being may be achieved. Indeed, by reducing lifestyle complexity and lessening the focus on consumerism, the inherent value of leisure to well-being might well emerge to a greater degree.

The purpose of this study was to explore the role and significance that ethnic churches have in the lives of Korean immigrant women in Canada. Particular attention was paid to the ethnic church as a potential leisure site, and the benefits associated with church participation, such as social interaction, social capital development, adaptation to living in Canada, and resistance to constraining ideologies. At the same time, possible negative outcomes of church association were also addressed, as appropriate, such as lack of integration into the broader Canadian society and reproduction of traditional gender ideologies. Purposeful intensity sampling method was used to find Korean immigrant women who could provide information-rich stories for this exploratory in-depth study. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted one-to-one with a semi-structured format. Seven women were interviewed. These women were all first-generation married Korean immigrants who had lived in Canada for over one year. Initially the first participants were recruited through advertisements handed out to various churches in an urban/suburban region of south-west Ontario. Snowball sampling also took place as an alternative method for finding more information-rich cases. The analysis of this study resulted in the following themes: The first theme was the benefits gained from ethnic church attendance. These included exchange of information, emotional support and reinforcement of ethnic identity. Second, conflicts, divisions and challenges deriving from church attendance were explored. Negative aspects such as challenges between traditional and new values, lack of interaction with mainstream Canadian society, and reinforcement of gender inequality were evident. Finally, despite the difficulties that derived from being a member of the Korean ethnic church, the community provided help in adjusting in the new life for the women. The Korean ethnic community acted as an extension of family while helping newcomers through a variety of services in adjusting to life in Canada. The findings of this study do show that the Korean ethnic church is an important site for leisure for women. Although church attendance does not seem to specifically facilitate integration or resistance to the Canadian society, it did help them to re-create a smaller community that helped the women deal with their daily lives. As a result they often felt no need to step out into the larger society: thus creating ‘little Koreas’ within Canada.

The mention of the term “summer camp” often brings to mind cabins nestled in the woods, cool lakes, warm campfires and children having fun as they swim, paddle and play. At traditional residential camps children are imagined to revel in their freedom, overcome challenges, make long lasting friendships and develop into skilled and competent young people. How much of this imagery, however, is based upon a societal discourse constructed by adult values? How often do the actual experiences match these ideals? This study explores the issue of adult driven discourses surrounding the experience of camp by comparing the perspective of camp directors with the description of one of the author’s own childhood experiences. Using narrative techniques, the author composed two distinct descriptions of the camp experience including programmatic, social and emotional elements. The comparison of these two narratives revealed the possibility for distinct differences between the adult perception of the experience and how it may actually be experienced by a child. The areas of difference centred around both social and programming elements of camp participation which, when considered together, suggest the need for children to adjust to a distinctly different social setting in order to achieve the positive experiences reflected in our cultural conceptualization of summer camp.

Research exploring identity in the dementia context reveals that some aspects of personal and social identity persist in dementia while others evolve as persons living with dementia find ways to live with the changes in their lives. Leisure can be a space for developing and expressing identity and a space to resist stereotypical images and social expectations. Leisure may also play an important role in providing meaningful activity and engagement in life. Nonetheless, the meaning and experience of leisure in the context of dementia have received very little attention in the literature. Guided by the personhood movement, this phenomenological study aims to understand the subjective experience of dementia and the meaning and experience of leisure in the lives of persons living with early stage dementia. It explores leisure’s role in identity maintenance and/or development and leisure as a space for slowing down the process of dementia and resisting stigma associated with dementia and identity loss that could occur in dementia. Four persons living with early stage memory loss were recruited through local agencies to participate in this study. Each participant engaged in four conversational interviews following McCracken’s (1988) long interview format. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were also collected through participant observation. The participants and I engaged in at least one of their favourite leisure activities together. Detailed field notes were recorded following each participant observation session. Using the method of photovoice, participants were given disposable cameras and asked to take photos of objects, places, and subjects that were meaningful for their leisure. These photos were discussed in Interview 2. Data were analysed in a manner consistent with phenomenology. Findings revealed that the participants experienced their journeys of memory loss within a paradox of challenge and hope. Participants juxtaposed the negative aspects of living with memory loss with the positive aspects of their lives. Essences of the experience include struggling with change, in which participants experience a wide variety of challenges as a result of being diagnosed with memory loss, including muddled thinking, fluctuating abilities, draining energy, frightening awareness, and disquieting emotions. However, participants counter these changes with the variety of ways in which they tackle life with dementia, including reconciling life as it is, battling through the changes by being proactive, living through relationships, being optimistic, and prolonging engagement in meaningful activity. Participants also experience threatening assaults on identities. Identity is threatened in terms of disappearing roles, losing independence, struggling with demeaning images and expectations, and losing confidence. However, participants juxtapose these threatening assaults by upholding identities. They do this by emphasizing abilities through leisure, changing perspectives, and engaging in life through leisure. This study deepens our current understandings of the subjective experience of dementia and leisure’s role within that experience. It helps us to understand the experience of leisure within the context of memory loss in terms of four lifeworld existentials: lived time, lived space, lived body, and lived other. The findings also contribute to our understandings of how persons living with dementia use leisure to resist a master status of dementia. Participants in this study used leisure as a space for resisting both the stigma of memory loss and the progression of memory loss. They overcome challenges in their leisure to demonstrate to themselves and others that they have many remaining abilities and are able to maintain valued aspects of their identities. The findings suggest that service providers, family members, and persons living with dementia should carefully consider the meaning of leisure and find ways to facilitate involvement in leisure that is meaningful for persons living with memory loss. In terms of future research, leisure in the context of relationships, including the importance of advocacy work for persons with dementia, should be examined. Although this study provides insight into the possibilities of alternative methods for understanding the experience of memory loss, further exploration is needed in this area.

While meanings of leisure have been widely studied from Western perspectives, to date, few researchers have explored the meanings of leisure in non-Western cultural contexts. However, in an era of globalization, it is particularly significant to explore leisure experiences of people from non-Western cultures. This study is then designed to investigate the role leisure plays in a Chinese culture context. Specifically, Chinese university students’ leisure experience and the values they ascribe to leisure in relation to their lives as a whole is examined. Their ideology of work and its impact on leisure participation is addressed in particular. In a Chinese university, criterion sampling method was first applied to recruit Chinese students who could provide information-rich stories about their leisure participation. Snowball sampling method was also used to find more information-rich cases for this exploratory study. 11 participants were engaged in this study. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted to discover leisure experience of these students. Data analysis was guided by a constructivist grounded theory approach to understand the participants’ perceptions and meanings of their leisure experience. The data analysis resulted in three major themes. The first theme “Valuations of Work” addressed that the students placed high valuation on work and their life was ruled by work. The second theme “Two Spheres of Leisure” illustrated the students’ ideology of leisure and its impact on their leisure experience. The last theme “Causes for the Subordinate Role of Leisure”revealed two underlying causes that shaped the subservient role of leisure in the students’ daily lives. The emerged themes reflected that the students’ lives were centered around work; and they gave little consideration to their leisure participation. Holding such work-leisure ideology, the students’ leisure participation cannot always contribute to their well being. Therefore, this study advocates the implementation of leisure education in China, which may facilitate the Chinese people to build a balanced and healthy life style.

This research explores feelings of obligation to volunteer, which lie at the interface of volunteering as simultaneously individual and collective and challenge traditional understandings of volunteering as leisure. The study examined volunteering within the context of communitarianism, particularly how collective outcomes of volunteering are related to feelings of obligation to volunteer. Phase one of this research focused on scale creation of a measure assessing feelings of obligation in the context of volunteerism. Using exploratory factor analyses of data from a student sample, this first phase yielded two measures: an 18-item Obligation to Volunteer as Commitment measure (OVC), encompassing dimensions of reward, affective attachment, flexibility, and side bets; and a 14-item Obligation to Volunteer as Duty measure (OVD), encompassing the dimensions of expectation, burden, and constraint. In phase two, survey research was conducted with 300 volunteers at ten community organizations. These new measures were used to examine relationships between obligation to volunteer and the value orientations of individualism and collectivism, the experience of volunteering as serious leisure, and the community characteristics of sense of community and social cohesion. Both individualism and collectivism were associated with the commitment but not the duty dimension of feelings of obligation, and both value orientations, but particularly individualism, was linked to serious leisure. Serious leisure very closely aligned with the commitment aspect of obligation as well as sense of community and social cohesion, thus emerging as a possible pathway for nurturing sense of community in a culture of individualism. Correlation and hierarchical regression analyses link the commitment aspect of obligation to sense of community and social cohesion. Feelings of duty to volunteer, in contrast, were inversely related to sense of community. Thus, the nature of feelings of obligation related to volunteering as commitment or duty have significant implications for the collective outcomes of volunteering, particularly sense of community. Also notable are the strong theoretical and empirical relationships between the OVC scale and serious leisure, which suggest that the newly-developed commitment scale could be considered a measure of the agreeable obligation that accompanies serious leisure pursuits.